Autumn Season
Warm Autumn
Golden, spicy, and inviting. Medium contrast with the purest warmth of the earthy seasons.
- Undertone
- warm & Warm
- Contrast
- Medium
- Best metals
- gold, rose gold
Palette Comparison
Warm Autumn vs Deep Winter Color Palette
Warm Autumn is a warm palette and Deep Winter is a cool one, so the two pull your complexion in opposite directions. Warm Autumn is warm and warm, medium contrast, while Deep Winter is cool and deep, high contrast. Here are both palettes side by side, with the eye, skin, and hair traits behind them.
Winter Season
Deep Winter
Dramatic, dark, and intense. High contrast with black, deep violet, and cool jewel tones.
- Undertone
- cool & Deep
- Contrast
- High
- Best metals
- silver, white gold
The Warm Autumn and Deep Winter Palettes
Each type's eight signature shades. Read them as a set rather than one color at a time: it's the overall temperature and clarity that separates these two palettes.
Warm Autumn colors
Warm Autumn colors are golden, rich, and earthy. They carry real depth without ever tipping into the cool clarity of a Winter palette.
Burnt Orange
Your signature shade
Golden Ochre
Sunlit and mellow
Olive Green
Earthy and grounded
Warm Brick
Rich and deep
Deep Teal
Your cool accent
Terracotta
Warm and inviting
Warm Sand
Everyday light neutral
Chestnut
Your best warm dark
Deep Winter colors
Deep Winter colors are dark, cool, and saturated. This is the only palette in the system where true black is a genuine hero rather than a compromise.
Deep Violet
Your signature shade
True Red
Blue-based and bold
Pine Green
Dark and cool
Deep Sapphire
Rich and saturated
Deep Magenta
Cool and vivid
Deep Teal
Your jewel accent
Midnight
Everyday deep neutral
True Black
Your strongest neutral
Key Characteristics
The coloring each palette is built around. Where you land on these three is what decides which of the two is yours.
Eyes
Warm Autumn
Amber, golden hazel, warm brown, or golden green, very often with visible gold flecking around the pupil.
Deep Winter
Dark brown, cool dark hazel, or black-brown. The iris usually reads as almost uniformly dark, with a crisp boundary against the white of the eye.
Skin
Warm Autumn
Warm ivory through to olive with golden or peachy undertones. Warm Autumn skin tans readily and looks noticeably healthier beside gold than silver.
Deep Winter
Olive, or fair to deep with cool undertones. Deep Winter skin can look almost translucent at the fair end and richly saturated at the deep end.
Hair
Warm Autumn
Red, auburn, copper, or golden brown. Warm Autumn has the strongest red and copper representation of any season.
Deep Winter
Medium to dark brown, dark espresso, or black. It holds its depth without any golden or coppery warmth showing through.
Not sure which season you are? Take the quiz
One photo tells you whether you are a Warm Autumn, a Deep Winter, or one of the other ten types, with your full palette and a preview on your own face.
Get my color analysisWarm Autumn vs Deep Winter Celebrities
Style icons for each palette. Comparing two faces you already know is often quicker than comparing swatches.
Julia Roberts
Warm Autumn
Jennifer Lopez
Warm Autumn
Beyoncé
Warm Autumn
Halle Berry
Warm Autumn
Anne Hathaway
Deep Winter
Kim Kardashian
Deep Winter
Sandra Oh
Deep Winter
Lupita Nyong'o
Deep Winter
Frequently Asked Questions
What's the real difference between Warm Autumn and Deep Winter?
Undertone. Warm Autumn is warm, built around shades like burnt orange, golden ochre and olive green, while Deep Winter is cool, built around deep violet, true red and pine green. Depth differs too, Warm Autumn sitting at medium contrast against Deep Winter at high, but temperature is what you should test first. A palette on the wrong side of that line leaves skin looking sallow or grey however well the depth matches.
Are Warm Autumn and Deep Winter the same season?
No. Warm Autumn belongs to Autumn and Deep Winter belongs to Winter, two separate seasons in the twelve-type system. They also sit on opposite sides of the warm and cool line, which makes confusing them the more costly kind of mistake. The shades each one is named for do not transfer between them.
Which key colors define Warm Autumn vs Deep Winter?
Warm Autumn is defined by burnt orange, golden ochre, olive green and warm brick. Warm Autumn colors are golden, rich, and earthy. They carry real depth without ever tipping into the cool clarity of a Winter palette. Deep Winter is defined by deep violet, true red, pine green and deep sapphire. Deep Winter colors are dark, cool, and saturated. This is the only palette in the system where true black is a genuine hero rather than a compromise. Metals are the quickest tell of all: Warm Autumn wants gold or rose gold, and Deep Winter wants silver or white gold.
Am I Warm Autumn or Deep Winter? How can I tell the difference?
Temperature first: hold burnt orange and deep violet fabric under your chin in daylight and watch which one evens out your skin instead of adding shadow. Then depth: Warm Autumn carries medium contrast between hair, skin and eyes where Deep Winter carries high, so judge how much contrast your own bare-faced photo shows. Then metals: Warm Autumn suits gold or rose gold and Deep Winter suits silver or white gold. When two of the three agree, that is your answer.
Who are some celebrity examples of Warm Autumn and Deep Winter?
For Warm Autumn, look at Julia Roberts, Jennifer Lopez, Beyoncé and Halle Berry. For Deep Winter, look at Anne Hathaway, Kim Kardashian, Sandra Oh and Lupita Nyong'o. Read them for the relationship between hair, skin and eyes rather than for individual outfits, since a stylist can put anyone in anything. Daylight photographs without heavy makeup or filters are far more useful here than red-carpet shots.
Why does getting Warm Autumn vs Deep Winter right matter?
Because the two palettes fail in opposite directions, and the failure is quiet rather than obvious. Wearing Deep Winter colors as a Warm Autumn lays a cool cast over warm skin, which shows up as dullness, grey under the eyes, or a yellow flatness people read as tiredness rather than as a wardrobe problem. It also costs money. Most of a wardrobe is neutrals and basics, and buying those on the wrong side of the line means every top you own works slightly against your face while none of them looks obviously wrong on the hanger. Metals compound it: Warm Autumn suits gold or rose gold and Deep Winter suits silver or white gold, so jewelry bought for the wrong season quietly undercuts the rest.
Can Warm Autumn and Deep Winter share any colors?
Not the same shades, but another 9 sit close enough that one garment could pass for either. Those near-matches are the softest, most neutral parts of each palette, where the gap narrows to a degree or two of warmth. Everything either season is known for stays on its own side: burnt orange and golden ochre for Warm Autumn, deep violet and true red for Deep Winter. Treat the near-matches as safe ground, not as proof the palettes are interchangeable.
What's the fastest way to confirm my season at home?
Stand at a window in indirect daylight, without makeup, in something that will not bounce color onto your face. Hold burnt orange against deep violet under your chin, one at a time, and watch your skin rather than the fabric: the right one evens out redness and softens the shadows under your eyes, and the wrong one adds a grey or yellow cast. Then repeat at your wrist with gold or rose gold against silver or white gold jewelry. Two signals pointing the same way is usually enough, and a photo-based analysis will confirm it in minutes.
Browse All Palettes
All twelve color seasons, three to a family. Open any one for its full palette, traits, and the colors to keep away from your face.
Spring
Summer
Autumn
Winter
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